This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Mobile platforms such as automotive vehicles typically include one or more airbags that work in conjunction with one another and with other safety systems to absorb or otherwise dissipate energy associated with an impact event away from occupants of the mobile platform. For example, a mobile platform such as a vehicle may incorporate one or more front airbags mounted in a steering wheel or instrument panel of the vehicle that absorb energy associated with a front-impact event. Likewise, a vehicle may additionally incorporate a side airbag in a door, pillar and/or seat assembly of the vehicle in an effort to absorb energy associated with a side-impact event.
Mobile platforms also include seatbelt assemblies that work in conjunction with inflatable restraints such as front airbags and side airbags. In fact, some seatbelt assemblies incorporate an inflatable portion that works in conjunction with the seatbelt assembly to absorb forces associated with an impact event and/or to direct such forces into the structure of the mobile platform and away from vehicle occupants.
Seatbelt assemblies that have an integral inflatable portion or an airbag attached to webbing of the seatbelt assembly typically include a shoulder-mounted retractor that selectively allows the webbing to payout from the retractor so that the webbing can be properly positioned relative to a vehicle occupant. Such seatbelt assemblies also include an inflator that selectively provides the inflatable portion or airbag of the seatbelt assembly with pressurized gas to move the inflatable portion or airbag from a pre-deployed state to an inflated state.
Conventional inflators associated with seatbelt assemblies are necessarily located proximate to a seat bottom of a seat assembly, as locating the inflator proximate to the shoulder-mounted retractor is not possible. Specifically, because the retractor selectively pays out and retracts webbing of the seatbelt assembly, an inflator cannot be located along a length of the webbing such that the inflator is located near the retractor, as a conventional inflator cannot maintain a fluid connection with the inflatable portion or airbag during payout or retraction of the seatbelt. Accordingly, conventional inflators are fixedly mounted to the seat assembly and/or to the surrounding structure of the mobile platform in an area proximate to the seat bottom to allow the inflator to remain stationary during all modes of operation of the seatbelt assembly.
Mounting an inflator proximate to a seat bottom of a seat assembly allows the inflator to remain stationary during use of the seatbelt assembly both during payout and retraction of the seatbelt webbing, as the inflator is only fluidly coupled to the inflatable portion or airbag when a tongue of the seatbelt assembly is received within a buckle. In other words, it is the connection of the tongue and buckle that places the inflator in fluid communication with the inflatable portion or airbag and, as such, the inflator is typically disposed in closed proximity to the buckle near the seat bottom and communicates high-pressure gas to the inflatable portion or airbag via the buckle and tongue.
While positioning an inflator proximate to a buckle of a seatbelt assembly adequately allows the inflator to selectively supply an inflatable portion or airbag associated with the seatbelt assembly with high-pressure gas, such a configuration requires that the inflatable portion or airbag be in fluid communication with the inflator via the tongue and buckle. Requiring fluid communication between the tongue and the buckle complicates the construction of both the tongue and the buckle and often results in both components having an undesirable size, shape, and configuration. Further, requiring the inflator to communicate high-pressure gas to the inflatable portion or airbag via the tongue and buckle requires multiple fluid connections between the inflator and the inflatable portion or airbag, thereby increasing the overall cost of the system and the likelihood of a system leak.